Intel Set For First Public PRAM Demo

[HardOCP News]

Intel's chief technology officer Justin Rattner will be giving the very first public PRAM demonstration at IDF this week.

The prototype chips are seen as a replacement for flash memory and, perhaps, DRAM. Unlike DRAM, non-volatile memory like flash can store memory when a device's power is turned off, but flash memory chips write and read data more slowly than DRAM, have less capacity, and are also more expensive.

 

[alphaone]

To avoid confusion, this is not the same as the PRAM (Perimeter RAM) that macs have been using for years.

 

[clement]

"but flash memory chips write and read data more slowly than DRAM, have less capacity, and are also more expensive."

Funny I could have sworn I haven't seen any 16gb DRAM modules floating around the web, like I have seen with flash.

 

[Trepidati0n]

Funny I could have sworn I haven't seen any 16gb DRAM modules floating around the web, like I have seen with flash.

module != silicon die

When houses like Intel talk about density, they are talking about the die..not how many die in a package or module. For people who make cell phones, mp3 type players, etc...this is significant.

 

[pxc]

Funny I could have sworn I haven't seen any 16gb DRAM modules floating around the web, like I have seen with flash.

I think the 16GB Flash drives use multiple chips. The highest shipping/sampling Flash RAM device seems to be the 16 Gbit (2GB). I've seen 8GB registered DIMMs.

I wouldn't really compare the 2 for capacity. DIMMs use multiple chips and most flash based devices use single chips, although not all DRAM chips are on DIMMs and multiple flash devices can be used together. They're used in different segments for different uses.
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PRAM is going to be cool.